US6710324B2 - Optoelectronic distance measuring device - Google Patents

Optoelectronic distance measuring device Download PDF

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Publication number
US6710324B2
US6710324B2 US10/281,288 US28128802A US6710324B2 US 6710324 B2 US6710324 B2 US 6710324B2 US 28128802 A US28128802 A US 28128802A US 6710324 B2 US6710324 B2 US 6710324B2
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accordance
pulse
amplified
subsidiary
load
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US10/281,288
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US20030080285A1 (en
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Johann Hipp
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Sick AG
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Sick AG
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483—Details of pulse systems
    • G01S7/486—Receivers
    • G01S7/487—Extracting wanted echo signals, e.g. pulse detection
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/02—Systems using the reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
    • G01S17/06—Systems determining position data of a target
    • G01S17/08—Systems determining position data of a target for measuring distance only
    • G01S17/10—Systems determining position data of a target for measuring distance only using transmission of interrupted, pulse-modulated waves
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483—Details of pulse systems
    • G01S7/486—Receivers
    • G01S7/4861—Circuits for detection, sampling, integration or read-out
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/483—Details of pulse systems
    • G01S7/486—Receivers
    • G01S7/4868—Controlling received signal intensity or exposure of sensor
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/02—Systems using the reflection of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
    • G01S17/06—Systems determining position data of a target
    • G01S17/42—Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates

Definitions

  • the invention relates to an optoelectronic distance measuring device comprising at least one transmitter unit to transmit pulsed electromagnetic radiation, at least one receiver unit associated with the transmitter unit to receive the reflected radiation and an evaluation unit to determine at least the distance of objects reflecting the transmitted radiation.
  • Such devices are generally known and are used, for example, in connection with vehicles to detect the surroundings of the vehicle during travel.
  • a near object of high reflectivity such as a so-called cat's eye or a road boundary post, which is also termed a cooperative target, on the one hand
  • a far object of low reflectivity such as a tree or a person in dark clothing, on the other hand
  • a receiver unit which should cover such an extremely wide dynamic range will necessarily overmodulate at high intensities.
  • the width of the received pulses decisive for a distance measurement using a pulse transit time process depends on the amplitude of the received radiation pulses. This relationship can be comparatively uncritical in the non-overmodulated or analog range, i.e. for radiation pulses not exceeding a specific intensity or amplitude, but can result in inaccuracies in the distance determination at high intensities, with such inaccuracies being able to lie in the range of some meters.
  • This object is satisfied in that a series connection of load resistors is connected after the receiver unit and a separate amplifier is associated with each load resistor to amplify the subsidiary pulse produced at the respective load resistor from an incoming, successively attenuated received pulse.
  • a plurality of signal pulses termed subsidiary pulses here, with a reducing signal level are produced from each receiver pulse produced at the receiver unit, with these signal pulses being amplified by an arrangement of parallel amplifiers, with a separate amplifier being associated with each subsidiary pulse. Consequently, a plurality of parallel measuring channels are available at the same time which differ in that the received pulses, that is the subsidiary pulses, are of different signal levels.
  • a subsidiary pulse is produced at one of the load resistors which is not overmodulated subsequent to its amplification; that is, its signal level remains below an overmodulating threshold.
  • the subsidiary pulses produced at the previous load resistors before this first, non-overmodulated, amplified subsidiary pulse are subjected to a pulse widening due to their amplification which results in overmodulation which would result in inaccuracies or at least in problems in a distance measurement taking place using a pulse transit time process.
  • the invention allows these overmodulated amplified subsidiary pulses to be suppressed and to subject a non-overmodulated amplified subsidiary pulse to a subsequent evaluation.
  • a measuring channel to exist for every signal level of an initial received pulse, that is, for every intensity of a reflected radiation pulse, in which an optimum evaluation of the received pulse is possible which is free of disturbing overmodulation effects, in that it is not the initial received pulse itself which is evaluated, but a subsidiary pulse produced from this which has a reduced signal level due to the attenuation by one or more load resistors, but which still contains the information required for a distance measurement using the transit time principle.
  • the initial received pulse in a certain sense, and in dependence on its signal level, itself finds that measuring channel in which it can be evaluated without problem in the form of an attenuated subsidiary pulse which is, however, particularly not falsified with respect to the required information.
  • the measuring device in accordance with the invention can consequently be used to particular advantage in connection with laser scanners, for example in the areas of traffic engineering, automobile sensor technology and industrial surveying, and in particular anywhere special target marks of high reflectivity should be measured, on the one hand, and normal objects or the surroundings should be measured simultaneously, on the other hand, and are scanned for this purpose.
  • Possible applications are, for example, navigation and safety with automatic transport vehicles when reflectors of known location have to be identified for the part task “navigation” and objects with low reflectance must also not be overlooked for the part task “safety”.
  • Possible further applications are, for example, measurements on liquid metals where bare metal surfaces and dark ash regions alternate in rapid succession.
  • the invention moreover allows reflectivity measurements in that, with knowledge of the object distance, a conclusion is made on the intensity of the radiation pulse received, and thus on the reflectivity of the object in question, from the signal level of a non-overmodulated and therefore non-widened amplified subsidiary pulse, with the known properties of the measuring channel in question, that is, the degree of attenuation due to the respective load resistors and the characteristic values of the respective amplifier, allowing a conclusion on the signal level of the initial received pulse.
  • the invention can be advantageously combined with a double pulse evaluation in which received pulses successively incoming in a short time interval of the same transmitted pulse transmitted by the transmitter unit are evaluated with regard to the transit time in order, for example, to measure the upper edge of a container standing on the floor separately from the floor itself. Widenings of the received pulse due to overmodulation are avoided by the invention such that even received pulses lying close to one another in time can be separated from one another and no problems occur due to deformations or suppressions of the later received pulses by widened earlier received pulses.
  • the ratios of the resistance values of the load resistors to one another are preferably matched to the dynamic ranges of the amplifiers.
  • the resistance values of the working resistors prefferably be selected such that the quotient of two sums of resistance values succeeding one another in each case corresponds to the dynamic range of the following amplifier.
  • the dynamic range is preferably the same for all amplifiers.
  • a comparator with a pre-determined reference voltage is connected after every amplifier, the reference voltage in particular corresponding to a respective reference threshold of a downstream selection unit to which the comparators are connected.
  • a common selection unit is preferably connected after the amplifiers and at least one, preferably precisely one, amplified subsidiary pulse remaining below an overmodulation threshold can be selected by it from the incoming, in particular parallel incoming, amplified subsidiary pulses and forwarded by it to a downstream evaluation unit for evaluation in particular with respect to the transit time.
  • the selection unit is made such that every amplified subsidiary pulse exceeding a respective reference threshold suppresses the evaluation of at least one larger subsidiary pulse, in particular the next larger amplified subsidiary pulse. It is hereby achieved that only the smallest of all amplified subsidiary pulses exceeding the respective reference threshold is left over.
  • FIG. 1 is the circuit diagram for a receiver unit and an evaluation unit of an optoelectronic distance measuring device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 2 amplified subsidiary pulses of a received pulse of the optoelectronic distance measuring device of FIG. 1 .
  • the optoelectronic distance measuring device in accordance with the invention is preferably a laser scanner which transmits pulsed electromagnetic radiation in one or more scanning planes into a monitored zone and receives radiation reflected from objects located in the monitored zone.
  • a transmitter unit includes, as a radiation source, a laser diode and a radiation deflection device in the form of a rotating mirror. The sight range of such a scanner amounts up to 360°.
  • a receiver unit includes a photodiode, in particular an avalanche photo diode (APD), for each scanning plane as a receiver.
  • APD avalanche photo diode
  • the scanner also measures the angle with respect to a predetermined axis in addition to the distance from one or more objects (which will be examined in more detail in the following) for every direction in which a transmitted pulse is transmitted, with the distance measurement taking place using a pulse transit time process.
  • a transmitter unit 25 directs pulsed electromagnetic radiation 27 to an object (not shown) which causes reflected radiation 29 .
  • a radiation pulse reflected from an object after the transmission of a transmitted pulse produces a received pulse at the photodiode 1 from which a subsidiary pulse is created at every load resistor 5 , 6 , 7 of a resistance series connection downstream of the photodiode 1 , the subsidiary pulse being amplified by means of a capacitively coupled amplifier 8 , 9 , 10 .
  • a comparator 11 , 12 , 13 with an individually set reference voltage 17 is connected to each amplifier 8 , 9 , 10 , said reference voltage being selected according to the signal-to-noise ratio required in the measuring channel or measuring branch in question.
  • the resistance values of the load resistors 5 , 6 , 7 reduce relative to the reference potential starting from the photodiode 1 and are matched to the dynamic ranges of the amplifiers 8 , 9 , 10 such that the quotient of succeeding sums of resistance values in each case corresponds to the dynamic range of the following amplifier.
  • the resistance values are selected at a ratio of 1/10, with the larger resistance value, for example, amounting to 90 ohms and the smaller resistance value to 10 ohms.
  • the amplified subsidiary pulses 21 , 22 , 23 are shown in FIG. 2, with the largest pulse 21 produced by means of the first amplifier 8 and the middle pulse 22 produced by means of the second amplifier 9 each exceeding an overmodulation threshold 18 and therefore being subjected to a widening.
  • the smallest pulse 23 produced by means of the third amplifier 10 exceeds the reference voltage 17 , but remains below the overmodulation threshold 18 and therefore does not have any widening.
  • the amplified subsidiary pulses 21 , 22 , 23 are delivered to a common selection unit 16 which is connected to the comparators 11 , 12 , 13 such that every amplified subsidiary pulse 22 , 23 exceeding the respective reference voltage 17 switches off the next larger pulse 21 , 22 and thereby prevents its further processing.
  • a corresponding delay of the incoming pulses 21 , 22 , 23 takes place in the selection unit 16 .
  • An evaluation of the overmodulated amplified subsidiary pulses 21 , 22 is hereby prevented and only the smallest amplified subsidiary pulse 23 exceeding the respective reference threshold 17 is subjected to an evaluation with respect to the transit time, whereby a distance measurement with high accuracy is achieved.
  • the subsidiary pulse 23 selected in this way by means of the selection circuit 16 reaches an evaluation unit 4 via a line 20 , with the distance determination taking place from the pulse transit time in evaluation unit 4 .
  • an individual offset value is determined for each amplifier 8 , 9 , 10 and stored in a memory to which the evaluation unit 4 has access.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Optical Radar Systems And Details Thereof (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Optical Distance (AREA)
US10/281,288 2001-10-29 2002-10-25 Optoelectronic distance measuring device Expired - Lifetime US6710324B2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE10153270A DE10153270A1 (de) 2001-10-29 2001-10-29 Optoelektronische Entfernungsmesseinrichtung
DE10153270 2001-10-29
DE10153270.9 2001-10-29

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US20030080285A1 US20030080285A1 (en) 2003-05-01
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EP (1) EP1308693B1 (de)
AT (1) ATE348316T1 (de)
DE (2) DE10153270A1 (de)

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US20030080285A1 (en) 2003-05-01
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ATE348316T1 (de) 2007-01-15
DE10153270A1 (de) 2003-05-08

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